Blueberry Muffins

I have recently been pining for the crisp air of fall, for red and golden leaves to slowly drift to the ground, for cozy sweaters and my breath in the air. I've been wishing on all the stars for fall and wishing on all of the candles of everyone's birthdays that I could go back to Alaska.

I told my mom this and she was very surprised. Some of you make know that I take care of my mom, she has some medical issues and she has always been there for me, so I will always be there for her. But for the next 5 years she still has to stay here in DC for her work.

I am searching for a job on the Alaska Slope, the Pipeline. I would of course be cooking or baking or whatnot and it would most likely be a two week on, two week off deal. I could also pay off my loans and save money for...well what I wish for is to open a Bed and Breakfast. My mom wishes for me to open a Bakery. At this point I'm not sure which I would go for, I know what I want...but that almost never works out.

Long story short, while I am looking for said job, I am at home and am working my way through recipes. A few weeks ago I made an AMAZING apple pie. I mean...the BEST apple pie. I stole it from Alton Brown and I tweaked it. This week I decided that I needed to make something with blueberries. I needed muffins. Again I looked to Alton Brown, since to me he is a God, and again I tweaked it.

Let me backtrack and tell you my story about blueberries. Since I grew up in Alaska , and with a family that enjoyed being out of doors I was dragged along on all sorts of trips. Fishing and blueberry picking with the two biggest ones every year though.

I would be packed up along with my mom, my Grandparents and my Uncle and we would go blueberry picking. Apparently I was VERY good at this, my Grandmother would tell my mom that I was fast and gentle at picking. Let me just tell you straight up, I was not always fond of Alaska like I am now. And I HATED blueberry picking, I probably wouldn't really like it now either because I'm not a huge fan of camping. But I would go for two days and one night. More then that I would just say no.

When we picked the blueberries my Uncle would always make some famous blueberry pie...ick. I only say ick because for whatever reason he wasn't very good at picking off the twiggy stems. And it involved SO MUCH gelatin it was as if you were eating a blueberry aspic. Blah.

But, as I am now a certified Baker I can make my own choices on how things are made. And I am working on a cookbook. What better way to start out a book then to start with fall. And perhaps this blueberry recipe will be the first one in it. I'll need to start reaching out and looking for pictures of me blueberry picking.

So here is my recipe. You should try it. Its AMAZING.

12 1/2 oz Cake Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Baking Powder
Salt
1 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup butter *melted*
1 egg
1 Cup Vanilla Yogurt *you could use any kind though*
1 TBSP Lemon or Orange Zest
Sugar in the Raw
1 1/2 cup Blueberries

Heat oven to 380 Degrees

In a large bowl add all dry ingredients and mix well or sift all together.

In another large bowl mix butter and yogurt together, this way your egg wont curdle. Then add your egg, and zest. Add the dry ingredients, minus 2 TBSP's and mix. Please do not overmix, it perfectly okay to have a few lumps here and there.

Add berries to 2 TBSP's of flour mixture and toss, then add berries into the other bowl. Mix gently.

In paper lined cups heap batter past the top of the cups. Sprinkle with sugar in the raw.

Put batter into oven and crank heat up to 400 degrees, bake 10 min then rotate pan, bake another 10-15 min until slightly brown ontop.

Jackson and His Water Bowls

I have two cats. A boy and a girl, I believe I have written about both of them from time to time. Today I will be talking about my boy cat Jackson and his water bowls. One might think this wouldn't be very interesting, but my cats are strange...

Jackson will only drink from one type of bowl, little glass cups that I normally make flan in. He always wants TWO bowls as well, though he normally only drinks from one of them while the other just kinda sits there.

When he's thirsty he will begin by staring into the water, I always wonder what he's trying to learn by doing this. Does he talk to the water? Is he looking for something? I'm never sure. But he will sit there and stare at them for awhile before choosing which one he wishes to drink from.

He will also sit there and guard the water. If his sister *who doesn't like to drink water* wishes to drink from the cups he will come running over and stare at her while she drinks from his cups. Its very cute, but also very weird.

Thats about it. Not so funny, just weird. I have a weird cat.

The picture is of him deciding if he's thirsty or not. That small weird stain beside the cup isn't in fact a stain its water. He drinks very quickly and tends to slosh it out of the bowls. He's my dorkus!

Scary Cops are Scary Part TWO

When I wrote that out I wrote: Scary Cops are Scary Party Two! by accident. I think now I need to have a party with cops and see how it goes.

So my 2nd run in with cops here on the East Coast goes as such:

I have an elderly kitty. She adorable and sweet, to me at least, but hates anything and everything to do with vets. No idea why. But they dont like her as much either so I wont take her in for a cold or whatnot. But she devloped a UTI. Which she had never had before and she was all sorts of crazy about it. I wont get into the details, but she IS a lady so she would find plastic bags to go to the bathroom on. Thats CLASSY y'all!

So I took her to the ER vet and the doctor didn't want to give her a shot. He "Didn't believe in them" so he sent her home with liquid meds I had to force down her throat. Let me just say that this did NOT go well. She was choking and I was crying and it just didn't work. So then I took her to her normal vet and he gave her a shot and we went home. The next day she went BAT SHIT CRAZY.

I mean she was running around EVERYWHERE as if she wanted to be The Flash. She was a blur, and she would hide under my bed and pant and act all crazy. So of course I freaked out. It was about 11pm and I had made myself a cocktail right before this happened. And drank it. I called the ER vets and they were all: BRING HER IN NOW! And to me I was thinking. OMG. My cat is on the verge of dying!!!! So of course I scooped her up and drove on right over to the ER vets, which is just like 15 min away. To me, they ER vets were saying: RUN EVERY LIGHT OR YOUR CAT WILL DIE!

But I didn't run the lights. I just listened to my poor cat pant and I freaked out.

Now, lets go back to me watching the news around 9pm. They talked about how in MY area there had been TWO incidents of theft involving cars. One car would be driving, ho hum along, minding its own business and then another EVIL car would come up and follow it as if the personal space bubble no longer exsisted. And then it would HIT the first car.

The first car person would pull over and the second car person would get out and ROB THEM OF ALL OF THEIR SHIT! True story y'all. This totally happened. It happened twice, and then never happened again.

So, took my cat in, they saw her and she had calmed down. She was doing better, and they sent us home. Here I am driving home around 1am, minding my OWN business when suddenly a car comes ZOOMING up behind me. Its dark and my cat is crying because she wants out of her little cage. I'm petting her and talking to her and before that person no one had been there. So I was probably swerving a bit, as I petted my cat.

Like anyone you look at the top of the car behind you to make sure its not a cop. Well apparently he had those TINY LITTLE flashy lights on his car because I had no idea he was a cop. I slowed down a bit so he could pass me, I thought he was just a crazy-ass driver being a dick. Well he continued to follow me as close as he could get without hitting me.

I FREAKED out, thinking it was those ppl and they would hit me and steal my cat or my bottles of water or emergency kit. Who KNOWS what crazies want. But I was freaking out. We came to a light, which was red and I needed to turn left and of course they pull up so close to me I could have patted them on the head, behind me...

THEN I realize its a FREAKIN COP CAR! And then I remembered my cocktail I had about 2-3 hours ago. and I was all. OH SHIT! I'm going to get a DUI because I was driving weird since I was trying to calm my cat down. If that had happened I would have cried and told the cop that my cat had been almost dying and now she's saved and please, you were the only crazy person on the road.

But the light finally turned and he honked at me to turn faster, which is all: Dude, I can only turn as fast as my car can turn. You may have a fancy car but mine is from 83. And then he ZOOMED past me. And I went home and had two more cocktails... Also my cat is fine. The girl one at least. The boy one may have a disease that if I stress him out to much he could get crystals in his penis and die. So there's that for you.

And I actually have a THIRD cop story as of a week ago. But its not nearly as fun. The cop was stupid. Do you want to hear it?

Scary Cops are Scary!

So I have to random cop stories to tell you. Let me just say I never had ANY problems with cops in Alaska. But here in MD I've had two run ins.

#1:

I live with my mom because she's sick and I take care of her. Help her with things etc. So one day I drove her to work. It was a nice day, I didn't have anything else to do after I dropped her off so I wore no makeup and was wearing my PJ's. I dropped her off and then went on my merry way!

I had JUST dropped her off and sat at the light RIGHT NEXT TO HER building with a cop behind me. This is how it went:

Me: Ho hum, Mr. Cop I am so lawful its crazy!

Light turns green!

Me: Lets go! Cop can go away now! YAY!

Cop: Not so fast young lady. *turns on his lights and attacks me!*

Me: *pulls off and FREAKS THE FRAK OUT* OMG OMG OMG! Am I going to jail?

Cop: *Gets out and swaggers his way to me.* Miss, do you realize you have a light out?

Me: *SILL FREAKING OUT!* NO!!! I didn't know!!!

Cop: Miss, is this your car?

Me: *FREAKING OUT EVEN MORE* NO!!!! Its my moms!

Suddenly another cop car pulls behind the first cop car. I freak out even more

Cop: *Looks alarmed* Who's car is it? *Probably thinking that a 5'2 little girl looking person stole a Rav 4 from someone*

Me: My MOMS! *Still freaking out*

Cop: Please give me the shit you need to give me so I can make sure you're not secretly a felon!

Me: OKAY! *hands stuff to cop*

Cop goes away and does whatever cops do. Comes back and hands it all to me. As well as a little sheet of yellow paper.

Cop: Miss, this a warning, make sure to get your light fixed.

Me: OKAY! *then we all leave and I head straight to a someone to fix that stupid stinking light*

If you want the second story you should comment and I'll give it to you! It involves cats and crazy ppl who hit you and steal your shit.

Fairy Tales: If I Had A Child

Fairy Tales: If I Had A Child: Lets get this straight, in no way, shape or form do I want children. Other people's kids are fine, I don't mind hanging out with them in sma...

If I Had A Child

Lets get this straight, in no way, shape or form do I want children. Other people's kids are fine, I don't mind hanging out with them in small doses. But I have anxiety issues and the screaming, running around of children makes me want to run and hide in a dark room, curl up an cry. I don't know why. Thats just how it is. Which is one of the reasons I don't want children. I don't want to be a mother who runs and hides when their child needs something and can't communicate it to me in words, but in screams instead. I think I might be a mean mother because I would get so stressed out with the screaming.

But sometimes I just like to think of what I COULD be like if I was a mother. I grew up with only my mother and I thank her every day for encouraging my imagination. Honestly I think today's parents want their children to always be doing something so they give them tasks and projects to do. Why not let them figure out what they want to do on their own? But I digress.

I was watching Arthur, you know...the kids show on PBS. I love it. And Arthur's grandfather is sick. Long story short he learns that its a natural process of getting older, etc. And then between the cartoons they always go visit real kids. And in this episode the real kids were visiting an old folks home.

It makes me think of my Grandparents and what their lives were like growing up, and what even my own mothers life was like growing up. So very different from when I was growing up and I'm sure to my own Grandparents it would be like Science Fiction to see how my Niece and Nephew grow up now. With iPads and talking to people miles away but still being able to see them face to face *skype* etc.

This one older woman talked about how she would gather around the radio and listen to programs rather then watch them on television *since there was no such thing when she was small* and how you had to have an imagination to really paint the pictures that the actors were talking about over the radio.

What an interesting thing. If I were a mother I might do that. Pre-record a show like Arthur and have my child sit and listen to it rather then watch it. I would ask them to draw pictures about what they are seeing in their mind while they listen to the story. The same could go with a parent reading to them. It would be so interesting to see what a child could come up with...

I randomly think of things like this. What if? But for now it will remain in my imagination.

Fairy Tales: And Then The Spider Almost KILLED Me. True Story.

Fairy Tales: And Then The Spider Almost KILLED Me. True Story.: Disclaimer: I do swear like a Sailor in this one. Sorry. But I hate spiders. They freak me THE FUCK OUT! This Picture is from the AWES...

And Then The Spider Almost KILLED Me. True Story.

Disclaimer: I do swear like a Sailor in this one. Sorry. But I hate spiders. They freak me THE FUCK OUT!

This Picture is from the AWESOME Allie Brosh

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/03/spiders-are-scary-its-okay-to-be-afraid.html

Today I had a follow up apt for my scratched eye. But I had some time to spare before I had to be there so I stopped at Starbucks to get a coffee and something to eat. I got this kinda awful tasting raspberry swirl pound cake. Don't try it. :-p And then I went over to Michaels so I could get a few things for my Portfolio project.

I came out of Michaels and sat down in the drivers seat. To my horror a large black spider with what appeared to be grayish dots on it was sitting on the dashboard. I HATE spiders. They freak me the fuck out. I grabbed a CD and tried to squash it, but it ran into the car and I lost it. At this point I needed to make my way to my apt. So I started driving *it was about a mile from where I had been* and was freaking out the entire time.

It would have been my WORST NIGHTMARE if it popped up somewhere near me. I was picturing the carniage on the road if that happened. Because believe me I would have either hit someone because I was freaking out or I would have been hit because I slammed on my breaks. I decided to lay it out for that damn spider:

Me: Spider, if you stay hidden I wont kill you.

Spider *plotting*: We'll see about that!

I got to Lenscrafters and was 15 min early and they were opening in about 4 min. So I sat there drinking my coffee and watching for the damn spider. Finally I couldn't wait anymore so I got out of the car and walked around to the passenger side where my purse was. I decided to hit the dashboard a few times to see if it scared it out.

It did. About 30 seconds after my last smack it came running out.

Spider: HAH! You're leaving! Now I'll hide somewhere and I crawl on your face and scare the shit out of you while you're driving. Possibly giving you a heart attack.

Me: NOT SO FAST you little fucker!

I grabbed my horrible pastry still in its bag and smashed it. Then screamed and dropped the bag and jumped quickly away from the car. I totally knew I looked ridicules! But I didn't care. Its an EPIC BATTLE between this spider and me. I grabbed my Maryland map and smacked it again on the floor of the passenger side.

It was dead. I was shaking and laughing because I was in shock or something. Shut the door and walked into LensCrafters for my apt. The two ladies at the desk were looking at me oddly.

1st Lady: Are you okay?

Me: *Laughing*: Yeah...there was a spider in my car.

2nd Lady: OH! We thought you were having car problems.

Me: *laughing harder and still shaking*: No! I wish! It was huge! *show them the size using my fingers.

We all laughed. It was actually quite funny because I know I looked like a spaz. But they understood. The 2nd lady even offered me windex to kill it. I told her it was already dead.

And that is the story of my epic spider battle. I'm sure I'll have bad dreams tonight about it. And I'm sure its siblings or spouse is plotting its revenge...

I Always Thought I Was An Alien...

Last Friday I woke up and wasn't able to see clearly out of my left eye. And by not clearly I mean it was SUPER fuzzy and it stung and was awful. I couldn't get an apt with my eye doctor until Today *Tuesday* so I have had to deal with my crazy ass eye all weekend.

Now let me give you a bit of a back story of the life of my eyes. When I was 7 I finally got glasses, but my eye doctor then told my mom that I should have had glasses when I was 5. That would explain why I struggled with school and reading. My mom said I wanted to read so badly when I was younger and I couldn't for whatever reason that I would just cry and cry and cry. PS. Reading is my LIFE.

Fast forward through some years and we found out I have crazy retinas and they could detach at any moment. And if I didn't go straight to an eye surgen I could be blind forever. So I need to watch for a black vail coming across my vision.

A few more years and I started getting sparkles if the pressure in my eyes change. They don't know why my eyes do that and they don't know what to do about it. Lets just hope it doesnt mean I'm about to die or whatnot.

Then fastforward to last year and I went in complaining about eye pain and dryness and found out I have severe dry eye. And I had scratched eyes because of blinking. The eye doctor ended up putting these plug things into my tear ducts to help me create more tears. I also was given special drops to heal the eyes.

And then finally fast forward to today. I went in and he took more pictures. He showed me my eye and you can see these tiny green dots...RIGHT in my line of sight. Hence...the vision problems. He believes that I sleep with my left eye open. And gave me more drops to heal it. I go back next week to check everything out again. I may end up having to wear special goggles every night that are filled with moisture or something and keeps my left eye moist while I sleep.

So what does this all mean? I think I'm an alien and never knew it. And I come from a moist planet and therefore Earth is to dry for me. Also I can start wearing steampunk costumes and my new "eye gear" and be all awesome and steampunk.

AND I can tell The Bloggess thebloggess.com that her cat probably just has dry eye syndrome and she needs a special pair of goggles to wear while sleeping.

Fairy Tales: Congrats! Its a BOY!

Fairy Tales: Congrats! Its a BOY!: Ummm...WTF Blogger...why are you all weird and freaky? I don't know if I like you yet. On another note I went to class on Tuesday and foun...

Congrats! Its a BOY!

Ummm...WTF Blogger...why are you all weird and freaky? I don't know if I like you yet.

On another note I went to class on Tuesday and found out that apparently my restaurant that I'm working on...is a boy restaurant. Yeah...not sure how I feel about that. My Chef-teacher-person thinks that like boats, restaurants have personality's too. And apparently mine is a boy.

Mine is "in" San Diego. And is totally based around Comic Con and is super awesome and named Orion and is all sci-fi space themed and so cool. And I'm a girl y'all. Girls can like that shit too you know!!!! So I think  my restaurant is an awesome spiffy Geeky Girl. So there world...there you go.

On another note I am awaiting on baited breath for Avengers to come out. Why do you ask? Iron Man? Yeah he's cool, and kick ass and I love him. Thor. HOT! Of course. But not him. Cap.America. I think I'll like him better in this movie then his own. The Hulk...not sure. Its a new Hulk. We'll see. Hawkeye. I don't know enough about him. Black Widow. HELL NO! I HATE whats her name who plays her. If the rest of the cast was not SO AWESOME I would so NOT be seeing this movie because of her. Umm...yeah. I'm ALL FOR LOKI!

Yes. Thats right. I'm a Rebel Jedi and yet I turn to the Dark Side as far as Avengers goes. Because I freakin LOVE Loki. He's awesome and kick-ass and the man who plays him has truly made me a believer in the bad. I mean I have never REALLY gone to the dark side before. But now I would give my left hand for him to win the movie. But not really because I burnt my left hand and it was really hard to live with that...but I would be SO happy if he won. But I'm sure he wont.

Sorry for this rambly post!

I Burnt Myself and Then Epic Things Happened...Hunger Games Epic

Yup. I burnt the shit out of my finger. My finger that two years ago I sliced open. So now I will have a scar from a slice *I was cutting a potato* and now I was making a cake and will have a scar from a cake. ON THE SAME FINGER Y'ALL!!! Its my left pointer finger. Whatever the hell that finger is called.

How did it happen? The burn I mean. I was making cake...because who DOESN'T want cake? And I'm a baker! So I can make EPIC CAKES without trying. Unless I go to check the cake to see if its done, and then forget I have no oven mitt and PUSH the pan back in with my fingers. And then I died. And ran around swearing like a sailor and scaring my cats.

So then like any normal person I told Facebook. And my awesome pinterest friends responded in an even more awesome Hunger Games way. THIS is why I love the internet and Pinterest and Facebook. And this is why we are all POP, Princesses and Princes of Pinterest...I.E. The MAFIA of Pinterest.

And my friends are awesome because we did this:

http://pinterest.com/pin/170151692141791430/
http://pinterest.com/pin/170151692141791436/
http://pinterest.com/pin/170151692141791438/

This is why we are awesome. And we WIN THE INTERNET!

One Last Quarter

Man, I'm a bad blogger. I just didn't blog for the last 3 months. Its been crazy, not to say that it wont be crazy for the next three months, because believe me. IT WILL! But I'll need something to do when I should be doing homework or doing the dishes *since my dishwasher broke*.

But yes, today is the start of the last quarter of my culinary school career. Am I freaking out? Yes. Because I have to do Capstone which from what I've seen from my friends who've taken it before me I will probably have a mental breakdown. And math, which I suck at. So there you go.

I AM excited about the last bit of Capstone where I get to showcase my pretty restaurant at an event and make tasty food for people who maybe could give me a job. But really its going to be more fun to make my booth all SORTS of awesome. I have already asked a friend of mine to paint the sign for me, and I've been buying small plates for my small bites and making all of my dishes to see what will be the best to make. Still haven't decided yet.

In other news my dishwasher broke, my christmas tree is still up, I'm probably drinking more then I should because of the freaking out and I may be going on a cruise in October! Hazaa for the last one. Also I have horrible allergies and I need to start working out if I AM going to be on a cruise in October. Because I want to look cute.

Also, I'm allergic to raw onions and garlic and maybe citrus, but I love all of those things and wont give them up so my face looks like I'm a teenager again with really bad acne. It kinda sucks.

So yeah, there you go. Wish me luck for the coming three months. I'll keep you posted. And here is a pretty picture of what the cover of my menu will look like! Hope you like it!

I have a Secret...

I LOVE Mrs.Butterworth. You know. The syrup. I once was married to a man from Maine...*sounds like a song huh?* and he NEVER wanted to eat it on pancakes or waffles. We always had to have maple syrup. Maple syrup is TOTALLY fine...but give me the cheap stuff and I'm a damn happy girl!

Why am I telling you this? Because I plan on making breakfast for dinner tonight. Pancakes and bacon. Yum! I may make extra pancakes and make them tiny and make a sandwich in the morning with bacon and eggs. That sounds pretty damn good.

But in other news life has been CRUISING in the fast lane by. I have been crazy busy and crazy hectic. I had my 29th birthday. Sadly my friends and I are to busy for me to do anything about it. But yesterday I did go see two movies and in between went and got a large margarita. THAT was kick ass. And hey, I may be going to New Orleans in a few months so I figure I can live it up then...even though I'll be with my mom. She's cool though.

But otherwise life has been crazy. But I'm also loving it. I wish there would be some snow though. I'm kinda getting afraid of the summer. Its going to be horrible. Ack.

So thats it for now. I'm off to make breakfast for dinner soon! Love you all!

The Twelve Dancing Princesses...My Version

So its not secret that I love books and stories and I have a passion for writing. I like to think that I may be slightly good at it, but who knows. But, I am attempting to write a book, I have been now for at least a year. Its an updated version of The 12 Dancing Princesses. That, along side the Seven Swans and their sister are my two favorite stories in the whole world. But I don't want to re-write the Swan story because one of my favorite writers has already written an AWESOME series about it and I think its perfect.

Why am I writing about this? I need a little bit of help. I'm not going to tell you the whole plot, but I'll gave you some details so you can help me figure out which path I want to choose. Its ultimately a story about a girl who realizes she has the strength to fight for her freedom. The main character is supposed to be from our "world" our reality. And she and 11 other girls are transported to another world. Now, I've been thinking that "our world/reality" should maybe be in the future...or should it be in our time period?

I just don't know. You should go look at my 12 Dancing Princesses PinBoard here:

12 Dancing Princesses Inspiration Pictures

So yeah, those pictures help inspire me as I try to figure all this shit out. If you have any ideas on if it should be in the future or present of our world let me know...

To the Stars Bowen, to the Stars...

I'm reading this book, well its two books actually. And there will be a third. They're very good. I hope I've figured out some of the twists and turns. I like to think that I'm good at figuring out where a person is going with the story that they are telling. I like to think of it as a gift. But these books, the first one called Across the Universe is set in space.

There are the frozen elite from our Earth who...are frozen. And the people who have been engineered in a sense to keep the ship running, to keep the elite people on their way towards a new and better Earth. That sounds great. In a sense. I like the Earth I'm on and I know for a fact I would have no value to be "frozen" and sent to another Earth to make a new life. I'm to selfish, crazy...whatnot. I can only cook...and Dream. Buts that not the point.

The point is...and if you've never read the books and want to read them I'm giving you a spoiler. So, sorry about that. One of the frozens from Earth is un-frozen early and is stuck on the ship. I always think that if I could I would take the chance of going into space. Of flying amongst the stars that I look at and dream about every night.

But...I don't think I actually could. It freaks me out. Space. Well, I guess space doesn't scare me, the stars dont scare me. Rather the idea of being caught in a tiny ship *no matter how big* scares the crap out of me. To be lost and alone forever in a place where no one could find you, where no one could hear you screams for help.

Its weird that I look up at the stars and wish upon them for something better, for something more. I think what I wish for is my freedom.

Oil Spill, Flood and Cocktail Fiasco of 2012

A week ago I was tasked with the challenge to make some food that could be frozen and eaten at later dates for a women who broke her coller bone. I of course was up to the challenge, but two days before I had made fish and chips and the oil from the fried fish was still sitting on my stove top, ready and waiting to be thrown away.

So, before I could start on the food for the lady I decided to clean up a little. Try as I might, I could not get the oil to go into its plastic bin as it should have. So it went all over the floor. And when I mean ALL OVER. I mean ALL OVER. I had to clean that up. Pissed off and red faced I screamed out profanities and continued along with my task at hand. It all worked out, I made the food, she's happy. Etc.

Then today I filled the dishwasher as any normal person might. I went and sat down to my computer and started looking at facebook and Pintrest. To my surprise I started hearing weird trickling noises. I decided to get up and check it out. What did I find? A FLOOD. OMG! I ran all around gathering towls to stem the flow of water. And stem it I did. *ps, to make matters worse, two weeks ago my faucet broke off. Yes you read that right* And I have NO time to get either of them fixed.

So what would any normal person do? Make a cocktail. And I did. It was fantastic. I decided to make another. My cat decided he wanted food, so I tried to rest my drink on the toaster...and what happens? It fell EVERYWHERE! Wasting vodka and making the floor super sticky.

So that has been my life so far. Crazy. Sorry to complain. I just hope it gets better from here.

I Don't Care What You Say

I grew up watching Star Wars...truth be told...until I was a teenager I hated it. Except for the Ewoks and their own special little movies with that cute little girl with curly blond hair. I loved those little movies. But I hated Star Wars. I don't know why. Maybe I was scared of it as a child, maybe it was boring. Who knows. I don't understand a lot of my childhood. I just figure it was all for a reason.

Then George Lucas *whom I love, always a forever* re-released his movies. I decided to  give it a try. It was the "IN" thing to do and who was I not to be "in"? So my mom and I went. But we were late because of my mothers job. Her boss wouldn't let her leave for some reason or another and we were late.

I remember we went to Fireweed Theater in Anchorage. We stood in line even though we were late for a large popcorn and a cup of cheese *yes, I was a popcorn cheese dipper*. I carried the popcorn in one hand, my mom was behind me and we made our way to the door of the theater. We were late and had missed the previews.

I opened the door...and the words STAR WARS popped up on the large screen...along with the sweet music of John Williams. I was hooked. I mean, I can't even describe the moment for you. It was like I was in a dream. An amazingly wonderful dream. And I was hooked. Forever.

After that I remember the new movies. Of course they were not as wonderful as the original. But they were still amazing. George Lucas had always had a dream. In his mind he KNEW what the movies would be...for himself and for others. Along the way people have forgotten what these movies mean to him. They are HIS children. Not ours. We just share a part of his life...a moment. A memory. I always have a hard time with those who "hate on Lucas". Perhaps they are right in some ways. But if they were in his shoes...what would THEY do with their babies?

Lucas KNEW what he wanted out of Star Wars. But at the time he couldn't complete his vision...because he lacked the resources that were needed. So he CREATED those resources. HE brought us into the new age of movies. He is a Jedi in his own sense. And if he so chooses to change his creations to his will...then I will ALWAYS respect his decisions. They are HIS dreams. Yes, they helped me along with my own dreams. But I would not step on the toes of a dreamer. I would not change his mind. For they are his, and HIS alone. We have no right to be so cruel, to try to shape his dreams into our own.

I remember when I saw The Phantom Menace for the first time. I was here in DC with my mother, she was here for a conference or whatnot. We went to the Cleveland Park movie theater. We bought 4 tickets. One for the first show and then another for the second. We smuggled in coffee in a water bottle and I admit during the second showing I may have dozed off. Not because I didn't want to watch it, but we had JUST come into DC from Alaska *a 4 hour time difference* and could only stay awake for one.

Star Wars has been a part of my life. I don't remember everything about my childhood. But I do remember sitting in front of the television and watching the VHS of the Ewoks movies. And the moment the words STAR WARS popped up in my life for the first REAL time in the theater.

My second tattoo was Star Wars and even now I plan another. No matter what I will ALWAYS believe in George Lucas. Maybe one day he will hire me to work on Skywalker Ranch as a Chef. One can always dream like Luke did. That the world you live on now...is just a stepping stone into the future of your existence. You shape you destiny.

My Dream Jobs

I'm a big dreamer. I mean I buy a lottery ticket and I "KNOW" I'm going to win. Then I plan what I would do with all of that money. Or I try winning the Dream House on HGTV and "KNOW" I'm going to win it. So what would I do with that house? Etc. Etc. I dream big, I used to fall big when my dreams were never achieved. But I realized its more fun to dream big even if you don't win or get what you want then to not dream at all. So I will always dream big.

Recently I've been thinking about my perfect dream jobs. I have a couple of them.

1. Work for Disney World or the Disney Cruise Line, I would work for Disney Land too, but I love Florida better. I would give almost anything to work as a Chef for Disney. Recently I was out with my friends and I found out one of my friends who said she was going to Disney was also going on the NEW Disney Cruise Line and I started spouting facts and information about the new Cruise Ship and all of the things she could do. I think I scared everyone.

2. Work as a Test Chef for Americas Test Kitchen and write about how I created such and such dish. Yes, I would be okay with living in Vermont.

3. Owning my own Bakery. Its a very special Bakery.

4. Being a fiction writer and living in the Florida Keys.

5. Traveling and writing about my travels and the food.

So those are my top five. I don't know why I felt like I needed to write about it. But like I said, I've been trying to get a free house with HGTV and a few Cruise with Disney Cruise Line.

The Flight of the Cell Phone...or R2D2's Death

About a year ago...maybe a little less I bought this adorable R2D2 phone. Since I am totally obsessed with Star Wars. I mean...why WOULDN'T you want a Droid phone that was all about R2D2. I loved him. He was a great friend of mine. We had our ups, we had our downs. But thats R2 for you...he's a tricky little fellow. But I loved him all the same.

This past weekend I tried to plug him in to charge his little battery and low and behold...nothing. It wouldn't work. He died, and I kept trying to charge his little battery hoping for the best. Trying to tap into the force. None of it worked. Heartbroken I tried turning him on one more time and to my utter horror this msg was displayed:

"Error. Cannot be fixed."

OMG! SAD FACE! R2 is no longer with us. And with that I went into Verizon today to get an iphone. Yes, I'm caving into the thrill and money that an Iphone brings. But I have to admit that I've had my ipod touch for the past four years and I haven't had any issues with it. While R2 was overloaded with issues. So fingers crossed this new phone will be a breeze.

But!!! My story does not end. The store didn't have it in stock but the woman was so nice. She was very helpful and didn't push any extra sales. She did try to get me to buy a case for it...but I have had one made...more on that later and said no. She informed me that it would arrive Friday!

SO excited I left and hung out with my friends, unaware that I was getting an email *since R2 had died* that my new iphone would be here TOMORROW. Thats right folks. Tomorrow. When I got home I read said email and though quite excited I was also very sad. Because tomorrow I have school. And a paper due.

Long story short I'm skipping class tomorrow and skipping lunch with my wifey *thats another long story. I'm married to two women and a wonderfully gay man* so that I can wait for my phone. I hope its worth it.

Now, I have not given up on Star Wars as I had THIS case made:

Dinner Party

Everyone at some point in their lives are asked who they would invite to their ultimate dinner party. Young, old, dead...etc. I've been thinking about this for awhile, don't ask me why. But this is my list:

Ginnfer Goodwin - Because I think we would be AWESOME friends. I would love to meet her in person.

Juliet Marillier - By far one of my favorite writers ever. She "re-told" my favorite fairy tale of the sister and her 7 brothers who are turned into swans. Among others.

Jim Parsons - Because I love him. He is SO funny and so amazing.

Albert Einstein - Because who WOULDN'T to have him as part of your perfect dinner party?

My Grandmother - Because she was one of the most amazing women I've ever met.

Walt Disney - Because he was ahead of his time...in most things. I need him to come to dinner so I can show him that there is NOTHING wrong with tattoos and his company should hire people with tattoos.

Hillary Clinton - Because she is awesome. You know it.

Al Gore - To tell him NOT to give up on helping the Earth. He is so influential and I don't think he knows it.

Tamora Pierce - Who I actually had lunch with oh so long ago. But she is an amazing woman, and I would love to have dinner with her as well!

The Cast of Glee - But JUST the cast, not Ryan. He's not invited. But they are awesome, and I know they've changed SO many peoples lives.

Johnny Depp - Yeah...this should be easy to figure out why...

The Cast of The Night Circus book - Because they are AWESOME. And I love them.

Okay, there are more. But I can't think of them right now.

Who would you invite?

Letters on a Plane

Sorry its been so long, school just started and life has swept me up in its saving grace. Not everything is perfect, life never is. But I have fantastic friends, and school is going really well so I count my blessings and just look forward.

I was trying to decide what would make a good post to come back to. Then I remembered when I was on the plane going to Italy I was inspired by a guy...and a letter.

It was dark on the plane and quiet, hush whispers swirled around me as I watched whatever movie it was I had chosen to watch. It was one of those moments when you can just listen to your inner voice and let your thoughts drift away into the shadowy darkness.

One row ahead and to the right of me was a young man, probably around my age, dark hair, cute. He was traveling alone, and like me seemed to not be able to sleep. I watched as he pulled an envlope out of his bag, opening just one of the sides and pulling out a college lined letter. It was about 2-3 pages, and I watched him as he read it. He didn't seem to have that many facial expressions as he read it, but you could tell he enjoyed it.

Then, to my dismay and wonder he pulled apart another three very empty pages. Whomever had written him this letter had offered him pages in return. He took out a pen and began writing. Who knows what he wrote to whomever this person was. But he wrote back.

New Years New You

Resolution - 1 - To Actually WRITE my book. Because it will be an EPIC book and I plan on writing a cookbook to go along with it.

But really, thats my only resolution, other then to stay happy, love as much as I can, try to give back this year and continue to work towards my Disney Dream Job. Whoot. I'm actually not a big fan of resolutions, just because it seems people make them *me included* and you never actually DO them. Thats why I really only have the one. Its a pretty big one so its kinda like I have a billion. But no matter.

On another note I am back from Italy, I'll write about that later. I needed to take a break and just try to regroup, because though it was a very good trip...I don't think I'll really ever be going back to Italy any time soon. But thats another story.

Recently I've been obsessed with The Hunger Games again, re-reading it for the third time...the series that is. And I bought the unauthorized cookbook which is what made me want to write my OWN cookbook to go along with my book. Apparently its a pretty big thing now, to cook from the books you love. But since I'm on my way to being a Chef I think I have a leg up on the whole idea of a companion cookbook. I'll keep you updated and I may start cooking some of the things. Now I just have to figure out how to work the food in so its sounds like you really need to buy the cookbook along with the book. Fingers crossed.

I wish everyone a happy new year Stay safe, stay happy and don't forget to tell your loved ones every day how much they mean to you.